Shimadzu expands EchoView scanner line

Shimadzu will add the latest platform to its EchoView series ofultrasound scanners at next week's American Institute of Ultrasoundin Medicine meeting. The new system, SDU-2000, features 128-channelarchitecture with a hybrid beamformer. It is a general-purposecolor-flow scanner targeted at cardiac, abdominal, vascular, andsuperficial applications. Shimadzu is also planning a power Dopplerupgrade for the scanner.

A fully configured SDU-2000 is expected to sell for a listprice of $85,000. SDU-2000 is pending 510(k) clearance from theFood and Drug Administration.

Another scanner in the EchoView line, SDU-350, received FDA510(k) clearance last month. That scanner is a lightweight, gray-scale,30-pound system that will retail for about $25,000.

Shimadzu, of Torrance, CA, debuted the EchoView technologyat last year's Radiological Society of North America meeting.The company also introduced its TrueVision probe technology, whichexpands the bandwidth of Shimadzu's probes to between 5 and 8MHz.